Training?

[AshaKayx3]

Hello everybody! I'm taking an animal training class in college. We are currently training betta fish to swim through hoops. It got me thinking, can I possibly train my parrot cichlids? Or is that not something that is really done?

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[mikellewen]

Never heard of training fish..

The only training my cichlids get is at feeding time..LOL..

MIKE>

 

[nirbhao]

I was recently looking at kitsch aquarium decor and saw this thing that looked like a football field. It said it was for training fish, but it didn't say which kind. I know that fish are smarter than they get credit for. I'd be curious to hear how it goes if you try.

 

[JoeMan]

Cichlids are pretty smart. I'd say you could do that with an oscar but donno about parrots

 

[gilpi]

I'm trying to get my cichlids to play water polo...

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[Andy Sager]

All fish to some degree get trained when they live in an aquarium. Look at your fish anytime you come near the tank. They will often go to the certain spot food comes in at. Imagine seeing hundreds of fish all gathered in a corner because they saw you and know that you put their food in that corner. But to deliberately train a fish to do certain things is not unheard of. As previously mentioned, Cichlids are very intelligent and there are other fish, such as Goldfish, that have been taught to respond to a bell for food. I recall from my childhood, reading about an Oscar, in Germany I believe, that was taught to ring a bell to get fed. It was in a TFH publication about Oscars if I remember correctly. So training a Parrot Cichlid should not be all that hard... if you have the patience. I'm sure however, you will never get it to say "Polly wants a cracker!!!"

 

[Ashenwelt]

For birds... look up Banana Cracker...

But many cichlids can be taught some basics. Use positive reinforcement. And curiosity.

Just like Bettas.